Ayub 18:19

18:19 He has neither children nor descendants ¹  among his people,

no survivor in those places he once stayed. ² 

Ayub 27:15

27:15 Those who survive him are buried by the plague, ³ 

and their ⁴  widows do not mourn for them.

[18:19]  ¹ tn The two words נִין (nin, “offspring”) and נֶכֶד (nekhed, “posterity”) are always together and form an alliteration. This is hard to capture in English, but some have tried: Moffatt had “son and scion,” and Tur-Sinai had “breed or brood.” But the words are best simply translated as “lineage and posterity” or as in the NIV “offspring or descendants.”

[18:19]  ² tn Heb “in his sojournings.” The verb גּוּר (gur) means “to reside; to sojourn” temporarily, without land rights. Even this word has been selected to stress the temporary nature of his stay on earth.

[27:15]  ³ tn The text says “will be buried in/by death.” A number of passages in the Bible use “death” to mean the plague that kills (see Jer 15:2; Isa 28:3; and BDB 89 s.v. בְּ 2.a). In this sense it is like the English expression for the plague, “the Black Death.”

[27:15]  ⁴ tc The LXX has “their widows” to match the plural, and most commentators harmonize in the same way.